Strategies?

[helix2]

Curious if anyone has any hints or tips about how they play, I'm always looking for new was to see and think about things.
The one I have been using is looking at the number of available moves. If the number stays the same, or goes up, after a move, it means that move has opened something up, if the number goes down, I know that the revealed pieces and paths are not worth exploring right away.

[JapanGamer29]

That's a good tip. I've noticed that myself and it really helps.

My biggest tip, and probably most obvious, is to immediately look at each new tile that's revealed after making a match, and add it to the "available" tiles floating around in your mind. :)

I read somewhere that the best Shisensho players back in the day would work around the outside of the board, minimizing the areas they would need to scan for a match. I definitely find that if you cut a path through the middle of the board, the possibilities can get quite overwhelming and slow you down.

That said, I've also noticed that if you stick to the outside, you can box everything in and make a "No more moves" situation more likely.

I suspect that the fastest players study the board before making their first move, memorizing as many possible moves as they can. You could argue that's cheating, but Rubik's Cube players are allowed to study the cube before the clock starts, so why not here, too, eh?

And then there's the new SHIFT+R hack to restart a game. You can keep pressing it before you click your first tile until you get a favorable board, because, let's face it, the best times must surely come from favorable boards.

[KTNatSapporo]

I'm just thinking about digging tunnel

[JapanGamer29]

I remember one tip which really helps me in a Time Attack: In Advanced Settings, change the Mouse Cursor from Sprite to Windows. I find it much more responsive.

[helix2]

Not even sure what that means, but I will try it.
My starting strategy is to try and work the corners first if I can, the more pieces you can have that can work on two sides instead of one the better, but I do like digging tunnels through the middle.

[helix2]

Two more things I find helpful.
First, I find having a name for each piece in my head works well. As the symbols aren't letters to me, I make one up for a lot of them. Open Gate, Closed Gate, Big T, Hook T, etc.
Secondly, after the initial rush, when pairs are easy to spot, I switch from searching for pairs to picking a piece and looking for it pair(s) to see if they connect. When the board gets crowded and messy, I don't always see the wide range of ways pieces might connect. This seems to work pretty well in the later half of the board.

[JapanGamer29]

Ha, very true about the names. I guess I do that, too, but not as creatively as you. Just "Bamboo 4", "Dots 6", etc. :)

[helix2]

With the numbered items I seem to be able to set my mind to look for one of the types, bamboo, dots, etc. then just think about the number, because I am only looking for that type at that time.